What’s Happening

In the latest issue of The Compass, the magazine of the American Association of School Personnel Administrators, check out page 26 for “Using Innovative Staffing to Boost Student Success” by Public Impact’s Sharon Kebschull Barrett.

The April newsletter includes a new module for scalable, sustainable tutoring; new publications and blogs; tools and resources; Opportunity Culture news, and more.

When Dr. Tina Lupton and Dr. Timisha Barnes-Jones joined the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, Opportunity Culture implementation was happening in the midst of Covid. Lupton, the executive director of professional learning, and Barnes-Jones, the area superintendent for a network of 15 transformation schools, used their experience in other Opportunity Culture districts to help the schools make some adjustments. By the following year, three of those Opportunity Culture schools came off North Carolina’s “low-performing” list; nine of the 11 schools implementing Opportunity Culture models either met or exceeded the bar set by the state for expected student learning growth—results they attribute in part to these models.

Former Multi-Classroom Leader Okema Owens Simpson led the development of Public Impact’s on-demand module, Building a Scalable, Sustainable Tutoring Culture for All. In this podcast, Simpson provides an overview of the Multi-Classroom Leader role and the power of small-group, in-school tutoring through MCL teams, as a preview for watching the module and understanding our SIMPLE framework for building a tutoring culture. Listen here.

Opportunity Culture Audio is now on Apple podcasts, Spotify, and more podcast services! Hear from Opportunity Culture educators as they share what they do and what they have they learned about successfully redesigning school roles to reach all students with excellent teaching. Subscribe to Opportunity Culture Audio as we address some of the stickiest issues facing education!

As recent reports have highlighted, public schools face an ongoing need to increase educator diversity. Students of color make up more than 50 percent of public school enrollment, FutureEd reported, but 79 percent of the teaching force is white. How can Opportunity Culture models help?

The March newsletter includes information about an upcoming module, several new Opportunity Culture materials, spring resources, and media highlights. See an excerpt below.

In North Carolina, a newfound focus on the science of reading led to the mandated use of the professional learning program LETRS, or Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling. Making the shift from “balanced literacy” to instruction based on the science of reading takes significant time and training—adding strain on Covid-weary teachers, as Education Week reported.

With their team-based approach, Opportunity Culture schools can ease some of that stress. Opportunity Culture schools place teachers with proven records of student growth in Multi-Classroom Leader (MCL) roles, leading small teams of teachers and paraprofessionals. Read more…